February 1978

1978

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Snow outside Boston City Hall after the Blizzard of '78

The following events occurred in February 1978:

February 1, 1978 (Wednesday)

• Film director Roman Polanski skipped bail in the United States and fled to France, after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.

February 2, 1978 (Thursday)

• Kaiser Matanzima, Prime Minister of the semi-independent South African bantustan of Transkei, announced that he would break diplomatic relations with South Africa and ordered all members of the South African Defence Force to leave the country by March 31. In that Transkei was not recognized by any of the other nations of the world, the diplomatic rift lasted only temporarily.
• In the Central African Republic, Henri Maïdou, the Minister of Education, Youth, Sports, Arts, and Culture, charged with reforming the nation's school system, announced that school uniforms would be required for all Central African schoolchildren by October 1, to be purchased at the students' expense from Compagnie industrielle ouanguienne des textiles, a textile manufacturer owned by the family of Emperor Bokassa the First. When a group of high school students protested having to buy the uniforms, Bokassa would order the deaths of more than 100 of them starting on April 17, 1979.
• The Peter Maxwell Davies composition, Symphony No. 1, was given its first performance, making its debut at the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle.
• The Washington Star, the financially-ailing evening newspaper for the U.S. capital city, became a subsidiary of magazine company Time Inc.
• Born:
  • Nelson Chamisa, Zimbabwean politician who was the runner-up in the 2018 presidential election; in Fort Victoria, Rhodesia
  • Barry Ferguson, Scottish footballer with 45 caps for the Scotland national team; in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire

February 3, 1978 (Friday)

• The United States ordered Vietnam's Ambassador to the United States, Dinh Ba Thi, to leave the country after allegations that he was involved in espionage, following the arrest of David Truong. The U.S. had reserved the right to expel foreign diplomats as part of the agreement for the UN General Assembly to have a permanent location in New York City. Vietnam's UN office said that the Ambassador would not leave, stating that the chargers were "completely fabricated" and "detrimental" and "totally fabricated," and added, "For these reasons, Ambassador Dinh Ba Thi will continue to carry out normally his duties as the representative of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam." Vietnam's government recalled Ambassador Thi two days later, giving the reason as "the U.S. government is trying to disturb activities of the Vietnamese ambassador.
• Voting was held in the tiny European principality of Liechtenstein for all 15 seats of its parliament, the Landtag. The Vaterländische Union (VU) captured a seat held by the ruling Fortschrittliche Bürgerpartei (FBP), gaining an 8 to 7 majority and allowing Deputy Prime Minister Hans Brunhart of the VU to form a government as the nation's new Prime Minister, succeeding Walter Kieber on April 26. At the same time, Kieber succeeded Brunhart as the Deputy Premier.
• Serial killer Velma Barfield committed her sixth and last murder as her boyfriend, Rowland Taylor, died from arsenic poisoning. An autopsy revealed the cause, and an exhumation of Velma's late husband Jennings Barfield showed traces of arsenic as well. Velma Barfield would be executed on November 2, 1984.
• The official Soviet news agency TASS entered the world of cryptozoology and announced in the Communist nation's press that scientists had documented reports from Siberia of "Chuchunaa", a 6.5 feet (2.0 m) tall human-like creature that "feeds on raw meat, wears a reindeer skin and shrieks a lot" and that was said "to have frightened reindeer breeders, hunters, and mushroom and berry collectors."
• Born:
  • Amal Alamuddin Clooney, Lebanese-born British lawyer and barrister; in Beirut
  • Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer with 60 caps for the national team; in Tàrrega
  • Fátima Flórez, Argentine actress and comedian; in Olivos, Buenos Aires Province

February 4, 1978 (Saturday)

• J. R. Jayewardene became the second President of Sri Lanka, succeeding William Gopallawa. Jayewardene had been Prime Minister since July 23, 1977, and guided the transition of Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, to a presidential system of government.
• Born: Danna Garcia, German-born Colombian telenovela actress; in West Berlin
• Died: Bergen Evans, 73, American linguistic authority at Northwestern University, author of A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage and The Natural History of Nonsense, former TV host known for the shows The Last Word and Down You Go

February 5, 1978 (Sunday)

• The Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 struck the New England region and the New York metropolitan area, killing about 100 people, and causing over US$520 million in damage.
• Elections for President and for the legislature were held in the Central American nation of Costa Rica. Rodrigo Carazo Odio of the new Coalición Unidad (CU) defeated Luis Alberto Monge of the long-time ruling Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN). The CU, composed of four right-wing opposition parties also ended the PLN's plurality in the 57-seat Legislative Assembly, with a 27 to 25 lead over the PLN.
• Djiboutian Foreign Minister Abdallah Mohamed Kamil took office as the Prime Minister of Djibouti, succeeding Ahmed Dini Ahmed. Kamil was the third Prime Minister of the northeast African nation, which had been independent for slightly more than six months.
• Born: Samuel Sánchez, Spanish professional bicyclist and 2008 Olympic gold medalist; in Oviedo

February 6, 1978 (Monday)

• The Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act of 1977 (SEOC), the first U.S. federal law criminalizing the production and sale of child pornography, was signed into law by U.S. President Jimmy Carter after passing unanimously in both the U.S. Senate (401 to 0) and the U.S. House of Representatives (by voice vote, with none opposed).
• A tentative agreement was reached between the United Mine Workers of America and American mining companies to end the longest labor strike of coal miners in American history after nine weeks.
• The Prime Minister of Burma (now Myanmar), General Ne Win, began Operation Nagamin, beginning mass arrests of Muslim minorities in the village of Sakkipara and the surrounding Arakan state. Over the next three months, more than 200,000 Rohingya Muslims would flee to Bangladesh.
• Muriel Buck Humphrey, widow of Hubert Humphrey, was sworn into office to finish out the remainder of his term as U.S. Senator for Minnesota. Humphrey had died of cancer on January 13.
• The government of Chad severed all diplomatic relations with Libya in the wake of Libya's direct assistance of Chadian rebels and brought the issue of Libyan involvement before the United Nations Security Council. Relations were restored 18 days later at an international peace conference.
• Born:
  • Olena Zelenska (nee Olena Kiyashko), Ukrainian screenwriter and First Lady of Ukraine as wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; in Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
  • Yael Naim, French-born Israeli singer; in Paris

February 7, 1978 (Tuesday)

• Cornelius "Connie" Mulder, South Africa's Minister of Bantu Administration and Development, and Bantu Education, said in a speech to the National Assembly that after the completion of resettlement of South Africa's black residents to nine bantustans, referred to as "homelands", no black Africans would be allowed to hold South African citizenship. The paramount chief of the Zulu people, Gatsha Buthelezi, declared that the black majority would not cooperate, commenting "If it is the policy of the ruling National Party ot complete black dispossession by making us foreigners, it would be much better to do this by force, as has always been the case, ratherthan to expect us to cooperate in its plans."
• The longest debate in United States Senate history began when discussion began on whether or not to ratify the Panama Canal Treaty signed in 1977. The sessions were the first for the full Senate (as opposed to committee and subcommittee hearings) to be broadcast and were transmitted on radio because the chamber was unprepared for the setting up of television cameras. The debate would last for more than two months before closing on April 18.
• The Italian Communist Party (PCI) cleared the way for a new government of ministers to be formed by Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti as PCI leader Enrico Berlinguer announced that it would no longer seek to be part of Andreotti's cabinet in a coalition government. In the 1976 elections, the Communists had won 229 of the 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and Andreotti's Christian Democrats had won 262, both short of the 316 seats required for a majority. Andreotti's cabinet had remained intact for 17 months as the leftist parties abstained on votes of no confidence.
• Born:
  • Ashton Kutcher, American TV and film actor known for That '70s Show and Dude, Where's My Car?; in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
  • Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Nigerian film actress, singer and philanthropist; in Lagos State
  • Daniel Van Buyten, Belgian footballer with 83 caps for the Belgium national team; in Chimay
• Died:
  • Anil Kumar Gain, 59, Indian mathematician and statistician
  • Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum, 78, Pakistani poet known for creating the children's character Tot Batot

February 8, 1978 (Wednesday)

• The popular musical Ain't Misbehavin', a tribute to African-American jazz artist Thomas "Fats" Waller, was given its first performance, premiering at the Manhattan Theatre Club cabaret in New York City before opening on Broadway on May 9.
• In a yes-or-no election in Syria, voters approved the re-election of President Hafez al-Assad to another 7-year term of office. According to the government, only 4,798 out of 3,980,527 voters chose to vote against Assad, or slightly more than one-tenth of one percent. The Syrian government reported a 97% turnout of the 4.1 million registered voters.
• The United States Senate allowed regular broadcasting of its proceedings on the radio for the first time, permitting coverage of speeches on whether to ratify the Panama Canal Treaty.

February 9, 1978 (Thursday)

• Don Jamieson, Canada's Secretary of State for External Affairs, ordered 11 officials of the Soviet Union to leave the North American nation. Jamieson told the House of Commons that the move came after the Soviets had attempted to recruit a top official of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a spy. Two other Soviet officials, who were away from Canada, would not be allowed to return.
• William H. Webster, a U.S. federal appeals court judge, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
• The Budd Company unveiled the first self-propelled railcar, the SPV-2000, at a conference in Philadelphia.
• Plans fell through for the sale of Major League Baseball's Oakland A's to a multimillionaire who intended to move the club to Denver in time for the 1978 season. Marvin Davis had offered Charlie O. Finley $12.5 million for the team in December but the A's had 10-years remaining on their lease with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
• The U.S. television series James at 15, starring Lance Kerwin, received its highest ratings ever in the first TV episode to deal with the subject of a teenager's loss of virginity. In that James's first sexual encounter came on his 16th birthday, the program was re-titled James at 16. The program ran for only nine more episodes before being canceled.
• Died: Daniel Reed, 85, American actor, playwright and screenwriter
• Died: Herbert Kappler, 70, convicted German war criminal responsible for the Ardeatine massacre in Italy, died at home less than six months after his August 15 escape from a prison hospital.

February 10, 1978 (Friday)

• The crash of a Douglas C-47 military transport airplane of the Uruguayan Air Force killed all 44 people on board after going down shortly after taking off from Artigas on a flight to Montevideo.
• The crash of a Columbia Pacific Airlines airplane on takeoff from Richland, Washington, killed all 17 people aboard. The Beechcraft 99 was making a short flight to Seattle and was "seen to begin a steep climb at an angle of 20-45deg." to an altitude of 400 feet (120 m) and "then turned left and descended nose-down at a flightpath angle of about 45deg. until it struck the ground 1669 feet past the runway end and caught fire."
• Born: Don Omar (born William Omar Landrón Rivera), Puerto Rican rapper and reggaeton musician; in Santurce, San Juan

February 11, 1978 (Saturday)

• The crash of Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 killed 44 of the 50 people on board. The Boeing 737 went down as it was approaching Cranbrook, British Columbia, on a flight from Calgary. Snow on Runway 16 was being plowed in anticipation of Flight 314's arrival scheduled for 1:05 in the afternoon, but the airplane arrived 10 minutes early while the snowplow was still on the runway. When one of the crew noticed the plow, the pilot attempted to climb again and then stalled at 400 feet (120 m).
• The People's Republic of China lifted its ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
• Somalia mobilized its troops to deal with an apparent Ethiopian attack.
• Died:
  • James B. Conant, 84, American chemist, college president and diplomat who served as President of Harvard University (from 1933 to 1953) and as the first U.S. Ambassador to West Germany (from 1955 to 1957)
  • Harry Martinson, 73, Swedish writer, joint winner of the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature

February 12, 1978 (Sunday)

• Born: Gethin Jones, Welsh television host; in Cardiff

February 13, 1978 (Monday)

• A bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing a policeman and two civilians, and injuring several other people.
• Born: Niklas Bäckström, Finnish ice hockey goaltender in the National Hockey League and the Finland national ice hockey team; in Helsinki

February 14, 1978 (Tuesday)

• Born:
  • Danai Gurira, American actress known for The Walking Dead TV series and the Black Panther film series; in Grinnell, Iowa
  • Darius Songaila, Lithuanian pro basketball player and assistant coach in the NBA and for the Lithuania men's national team; in Kapsukas, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union (now Marijampolė, Lithuania)

February 15, 1978 (Wednesday)

• Rhodesia, one of only two remaining white-ruled African nations (the other being South Africa), announced that it would implement multiracial democracy within two years.

February 16, 1978 (Thursday)

• Born:
  • Tia Hellebaut, Belgian track and field athlete, and 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the women's high jump; in Antwerp
  • Yekaterina Volkova, Russian long-distance runner, winner of the 2007 women's world championship in the 3000 meter steeplechase; in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

February 17, 1978 (Friday)

• Died: Artemiy Artsikhovsky, 75, Soviet Russian archaeologist who discovered the birch bark manuscripts of Novgorod

February 18, 1978 (Saturday)

• The city of Faya-Largeau in northern Chad fell to FROLINAT (Front de libération nationale du Tchad), the Chadian rebel group led by Hissène Habré and supported by the Libyan Army.
• Died: Maggie McNamara, 48, American stage, film and TV actress, committed suicide with an overdose of barbiturates.

February 19, 1978 (Sunday)

• A rescue attempt by Egypt's Sa'ka Forces to rescue hostages on a hijacked EgyptAir flight failed in Larnaca on the island of Cyprus. In addition to the terrorists and some hostages, 20 Egyptian commandos were injured or killed.
• Died: Pankaj Mullick, 72, Indian film composer, singer and actor

February 20, 1978 (Monday)

• Chad's President Felix Malloum commenced Opération Tacaud to call in French Army troops to defend the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, from the FROLINAT rebels led by Hissène Habré.
• Born: Julia Jentsch, German actress, winner of the Best Actress award at the 2005 European Film Awards for Sophie Scholl; in West Berlin, West Germany

February 21, 1978 (Tuesday)

• Born: Kim Ha-neul, South Korean actress, winner of the 2011 Grand Bell Award for Best Actress for Blind; in Seoul

February 22, 1978 (Wednesday)

• Navstar 1, the first satellite in the Global Positioning System (GPS), was launched into Earth orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Liftoff took place at 23:44 UTC (3:44 in the afternoon local time) from Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 3. The Navstar, officially "OPS 5111", was part of "Block I", the first group of 11 GPS satellites.
• The Istiqlal Mosque, with capacity for as many as 120,000 worshipers, was inaugurated in Jakarta by President Suharto as Indonesia's national mosque.
• Died: Debbie Weems, 28, American singer and actress on stage and TV, best known as a recurring cast member on the children's TV show Captain Kangaroo, jumped or fell from a building in New York City.

February 23, 1978 (Thursday)

• William H. Webster took office as the new Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), replacing Clarence M. Kelley, who had retired on February 15. Webster, who had been a federal judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, had been nominated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
• Died: John Howard, 33, Canadian mountain guide and mountaineer, was killed while climbing the Athabasca Glacier in the Joffre Group of the Lillooet Ranges of British Columbia's Coast Mountains, when he fell into a crevasse. Though climbing with a companion, the two made the journey without being linked by a rope and Howard plunged into the crevasse when a snow bridge collapsed beneath him. The 8,369-foot (2,551 m) high Mount Howard in the Joffre Group was named in his honor on June 11, 1979.

February 24, 1978 (Friday)

• Born: Gary (stage name for Kang Hee-gun), South Korean rapper and record producer; in Jamsil-dong, Seoul
• Died: Alma Thomas, 86, African-American painter

February 25, 1978 (Saturday)

• The first Legislative Assembly election was held in the newly-admitted Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
• The owner of the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, Harold Ballard, angry over a new bylaw of the National Hockey League requiring all uniforms to include a player's name, complied with the letter of the law, if not the spirit, by sending out his team with names stitched on their dark blue jerseys used for away games, but with letters of the same dark blue color. "I've complied with the NHL bylaw," Ballard told reporters in Chicago. "The names are stitched on, three inches high. It's a pity you can't see them."
• Born: Yuji Nakazawa, Japanese footballer with 110 caps for the Japan national team; in Yoshikawa, Saitama Prefecture

February 26, 1978 (Sunday)

• Elections were held in the West African nation of Senegal for the 100-seat National Assembly and for President. The voting was the first since independence to allow candidates from more than one political party. President Léopold Sédar Senghor of the Parti Socialiste du Sénégal (PS) was re-elected with 82% of the vote, compared to slightly less than 18% for his opponent from the Parti démocratique sénégalais (PDS), Abdoulaye Wade.
• Voting was held in the South American nation of Colombia for the 112-member Senate and the 199-member Chamber of Representatives. The Partido Liberal Colombiano (PLC) won a majority in both chambers, with 62 in the Senate and 111 in the Chamber. The Partido Conservador Colombiano gained seats but remained in the minority. Voting for President would take place on June 4.
• Died:
  • Camilo Ortega, 27, Nicaraguan revolutionary with the Sandinista National Liberation Front, was killed by the Nicaraguan National Guard, whose soldiers had discovered the Sandinista hideout in the Las Sabogales neighborhood of the city of Masaya.
  • Maria Bach, 81, Austrian composer and violinist, died from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from a defective gas stove.

February 27, 1978 (Monday)

• Born: Kakhaber Kaladze, Georgian politician and Mayor of Tbilisi since 2017, previously a footballer with 83 caps for the Georgia national team; in Samtredia, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union

February 28, 1978 (Tuesday)

• Born:
  • Yasir Hameed, Pakistani cricketer with 176 caps for the Pakistan national team in Test cricket and 147 caps in One Day International Play; in Peshawar
  • Benjamin Raich, Austrian alpine skier and winner of two Olympic gold medals in 2006 in the slalom and giant slalom, and three world championships; in Arzl im Pitztal
• Died: Philip Ahn, 72, Asian-American character actor of Korean descent